I'm curious to learn more about Hoover's stance on taxation. He is a
specialist in it, after all.

I chatted with Susan DelBene at her campaign's hospitality suite. She's
running for US Congress in the 8th Congressional District. Her Republican
opponent, Dave Reichert, twice defeated Democrat Darcy Burner in
closely fought races. This year Reichert seems more vulnerable, since
he made a huge gaffe. In an unguarded moment he admitted within earshot
of a reporter that his Yes votes for environmental proposals don't
reflect any inherent support for environmental issues. Rather he voted
for environmental bills only to get re-elected.

Furthermore, DelBene seems sharp and confident: she was a VP at
Microsoft, and she started several successful businesses, including
Drugstore.com. When talking with Darcy Burner, I often got the
impression that she was trying hard; DelBene seems more authentic and
confident. Her minuses include the fact that, like Burner, she has held
no public office; also, DelBene didn't vote in several elections. Her
opponent will no doubt try to capitalize on that.

I asked Dwight Pelz, Party Chair of the Washington State Democrats, why
Republicans seem to be so much better at working together than
Democrats. At first Pelz said that the Republicans and Democrats are the
same: humans often disagree and squabble. When I pointed out that
Republicans vote together in blocs and that they're better at coming up
with and marketing their talking points, Pelz gave some ground: "OK, the
Republicans are 5% better at working together." After thinking about
it for a moment, he went on: "The Democrats actually try to accomplish
something, and that means they disagree about how to do it. The
Republicans just want to prevent government from working, and that's
easier to agree upon." It was a good line and I think it contains a
considerable amount of truth.

A Korean American former mayor of Shoreline, Cindy Ruy discussed her
conflicts with a conservative Democrat on the Shoreline City Council.
Cindy said that Vietnamese and Korean Americans often tend to vote
Republican, since they think that the Republicans will be more likely to
oppose the Communism from which many of them fled. She said that it
takes work to convince them that the Democrats will better server their
interests.

Meeting with a sitting State Supreme Court Justice and two
Supreme Court candidates

At one point, an elderly, distinguished looking gentleman wearing a
business suit came into one of the hospitality suite parties.

On his lapel was a tag saying "Richard B. Sanders, Washington State
Supreme Court Justice." This was obviously for real, and it almost made
me burst out laughing. An image popped into my head of God appearing on
earth wearing a badge "God, King of the Universe."

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I mentioned my surprise to him: "Wow, I'm surprised that you advertise
on your chest the fact that you're a Supreme Court Justice."

He replied, "Well, I have to run for office to get re-elected."

Later in the evening, at a different party, I met two slightly younger,
but still distinguished-looking, gentleman. I asked why they were
there, since they seemed official. They said that they're running for
the state Supreme Court but that they weren't running against one
another. (There's more than one position.) One of them handed me a
flier and said he's running against Richard Sanders. The flier contains
documentation about alleged judicial misconduct by Judge Sanders. The
documentation is quite convincing, and I found the
document online.

The document alleges that Sanders has ties to the conservative Building
Industry Association of Washington, which is much hated by progressives
and unions for its campaign contributions and lobbying. They tried to
buy Supreme Court Justices in 2008 but were unsuccessful.

I told Wiggins (the author of the document) and the other Supreme Court
candidate that I thought that it would be better if judges were
appointed by the governor and shielded from the political and
fund-raising complications of running for office. They didn't seem to
agree -- I guess they're glad for the chance to challenge Sanders --
though they mentioned that in California judges are appointed by the
governor to twelve year terms, as it says here;
that seems like a good compromise: not for life, but still stable and
above the fray.

My last exchange about the Supreme Court was about pay. I said, "I bet
you'd have to take a pay cut to become a Supreme Court Justice." One
said, "Yes, and I have kids to send to college, but you don't become a
justice to make money."

Paul Richmond's Perspective on Sanders

Attorney Paul Richmond (a progressive) posted a Facebook comment critical of the WA
Dem's decision not to nominate Sanders to the Supreme Court. I showed
him the information above and here's what he wrote in defense of
Sanders: